On June 10, 2025, the Russian President signed a law that substantially amends Part Four of the Russian Civil Code as regards compensation for breach of exclusive rights. The Law aims to implement decrees of the Russian Constitutional Court and is intended to create a more fair and predictable mechanism for recovering compensation for violation of exclusive rights.

The CLS team is glad to present our explanations on the mechanisms for doing business in Russia, with an accent on minimum public disclosure of information regarding the foreign investor.

On July 18, the EU Council adopted another sanctions package, the 18th one, involving unilateral economic restrictions in respect to Russia and Belarus. On Saturday, July 19, the relevant EU legislative acts, including European Parliament and EU Council Regulation No.2025/1494 which amends one of the two main anti-Russian sanctions acts, the Regulation No.2014/833. The published text states that two Chinese mainland banks were subjected to the sanctions: Heihe Rural Commercial Bank and Heilongjiang Suifenhe Rural Commercial Bank.

The CLS team would like to remind that employers and clients ordering works or services must notify the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs on a monthly basis regarding fulfilling their obligation to pay salary/remuneration to highly qualified specialists (HQS).

Analysis of the Russian alcohol product market shows that the demand for strong alcohol among Russians is decreasing, while interest in sparkling and still wines is growing, which is in line with the global alcohol market trends. At the same time, according to public sources, French wines take up only about 5% of the Russian market, largely due to decrease in production in the exporting country, as well as increase in the duty on imported wine. According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), the year-on-year production volume in France dropped by 23% in 2024 due to unfavorable weather conditions. 

GOAL: To create digital profiles of foreigners and stateless persons in order to facilitate the resolution of various issues requiring application to Russian state, municipal and other institutions, in particular.

May 23, 2025. The Russian President signed a Federal Law which introduces new requirements for cars to be added to the regional register of passenger cabs as of March 1, 2026. Carriers must use as passenger cabs, in particular, vehicles the information about which is entered in this Register.

On May 23, 2025, the Russian President signed a Federal Law, which starts an experiment on introducing new ways of registering foreign citizens (and stateless persons) on the territory of Russia starting from September 1, 2025. The experiment will be implemented on the territory of Moscow and Moscow Region and will last 4 years – until September 1, 2029.

The Russian Government has developed draft amendments to Decree No.1729 of the Russian Government dated 30.09.2022 "On approving regulations on state accreditation of Russian organizations operating in the field of information technologies" (hereinafter "Decree 1729"), which expands and specifies the list of criteria required for IT companies to obtain and maintain state accreditation.

On February 11, 2025, the Russian State Duma (Russia’s lower parliament) adopted in the first reading a draft law on restricting the use of foreign words.